I don’t know if the SEC East is catching up to the West or not, but based on these odds for winning a conference championship, it’s a damned sight closer to parity than anything the Big Ten’s got going for it.
The programming question for the Big Ten Network: how soon do you start talking up the national championship?
Get The Picture 
But, they do have the Corch v. Harbaugh soap opera working for them. So, there is that.
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I wonder if that’s Harbaugh’s Jeep in Dickhead’s parking spot?
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Thats just crying out for some OSU MU meme isn’t it?
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IDK, if Harbaugh keeps coming down and stealin’ Bama’s players, Michigan might be able to beat Corch
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or he could just park behind Harbaugh.
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That player that Michigan got from Alabama didn’t have a Bama offer (or an offer from any SEC program). Harbaugh is doing some strange things in recruiting. I keeping hearing Moff Tarkin in my head: “I’m talking an awful risk Vader, this had better work.”
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“Don’t underestimate the Force.”
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They rate the SEC as 1. Alabama 2. Auburn 3. Georgia.
Auburn is hanging in there with the prognosticators for some reason. I’m glad I don’t know what the reason is because that would mean it actually exists.
I wonder how much research these guys do, or if they just look at won/loss records. How in the world they rate Auburn’s chances better than Georgia’s, I can’t imagine, except for one thing..Auburn’s path only requires them to play Alabama once. And they might even be ok if they lose that one. Georgia will have to play Alabama twice and absolutley win the second one.
Other than that, I don’t get it.
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The reverse is true for Bama: they’d have to play UGA twice, and would have to win the second one. (Same for the Tigers. That SECCG’s the one ring to rule them all.)
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Youve nailed the bottom line.
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Vegas bookies set odds the way they think the betting will go, no other reason than that, not necessarily anyone’s prediction of how the teams will finish.
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To be fair, Ohio State would probably be a slight favorite in the SEC, as well. They have very few question marks on the roster, other than: (1) did they get a good replacement for Tom Herman (the undoing of Meyer’s last national title team was the step down from Mullen to Addazio); and (2) do they get the sort of generalized malaise that defending champions sometimes get. On a neutral field, Ohio State would probably be a slight favorite over Bama and then a bigger favorite (5-7 points?) against Auburn or Georgia.
That said, you’re right to point out the vast chasm between Ohio State and the rest of the Big Ten. OSU has the best natural assets of any team in the conference (recruiting base, fan support, bag man culture, etc.), so when you give them the best coach in the league, it’s going to be hard for anyone to match them. Also, that 1:2 number is a reflection on the three programs that have the historical pedigree to compete with Ohio State: Michigan (adrift since the last year of the Carr regime), Nebraska (struggling to find an identity), and Penn State (picking up the pieces from Paterno’s long decline).
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Auburn, within the past few years, has won the SEC twice and has also won a National Championship, despite playing in the West. They have become a known entity on the national stage. As well, their spread offense is innovative and fun to watch. I just think they are one of the SEC’s most visible teams right now. As for the Big 10, look at the coaches they have pulled in: Meyer, Harbaugh, Dantonio, Franklin, not to mention programs like Wisconsin and Nebraska and their respective coaches. Depth is building there. Meyer may just be too good this year, but I can easily see power shifting North in the years to come.
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“their spread offense is innovative and fun to watch.”
It was fun watching their offense against us last season
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Yes, that was amazing. CJP did a great job of shutting them down, especially in light of how they later did offensively against Bama.
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Yep, he’s 2-0 vs Aub in two yrs; soon to be 3-0..
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Now THAT was fun to watch! 🙂
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That conference has historically been the least competitive in CFB, no change. I do think the PAC12 is deep this year and, along with the SEC, is the toughest one to call. Must be some Vols betting heavy to get to those odds, same for Ole Miss.
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I think part of the hype about Tenn is because we give it to them by playing them close each year and pundits think that one year(2015) they are going to get lucky. There is no explanation for Aub except that the horseshoe extraction lodged during the spinal block we gave them last year made them walk funny through their last 4 games as proof.
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I know the house money is all in on Ohio State, but that’s interesting given that hardly anyone believed in that team until the national championship game was over. They weren’t even a consideration until they blasted Wisconsin in the Big Ten game.
Don’t forget, this is still the team that got humiliated at home by a mediocre Virginia Tech team. They might end up being a continuation of the greatness of their last three games, but they might also end up reverting to being the good to very good team they were for most of the rest of the season. Such is the result of a playoff…we’re putting a lot of weight in a team that got hot at just the right time.
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“we’re putting a lot of weight in a team that got hot at just the right time.”
Sure but isn’t that the main feature of every tournament
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Actually the odds are impacted more by the chances of getting one of the four spots. Ohio has the easiest way in based as much on their schedule as their talent.
And even the very limited playoff we have is better than one game for the title, you have to actually beat two quality teams, not one. Hot teams are not as bad as “lucky” teams who get miracle breaks at the very end (cough…..Disaster in the Pasture….cough). Teams having to win 2-3 games against champions from all around the country will be more qualified to claim a NC than any team before them.
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If it were random as far as who got in the one-off game, you’d have a point. But all we’re doing with a playoff is diluting the field, which increases the chances of a team getting in that didn’t really earn an argument for the title of best team in the country over the course of 12-13 games. See: an Ohio State team that got demolished at home by Virginia Tech even getting a shot to play for the title. Under the old BCS, they’d have just been happy to play somebody in the Rose Bowl.
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